Caprica City: Before the Fall
by SparklingEspeon
Summary: A few slivers of life - and life's end - just before the attack on the Twelve Colonies.


Caprica City: Before the Fall

1.

"All this has happened before…"

The man who looks like Dr. Gaius Baltar – but isn't – removes a cigarette from his mouth.

"…And it looks like it's about to happen again."

The woman who looks like Number Six – but isn't – loiters beside him. Her dress leaves little to the imagination. All around them, Capricans go about their business without a worry in the world.

"Sad; really." Not-Baltar takes another puff of the cigarette. "All this time- do humans ever learn?"

He offers the cigarette to Not-Six. Not-Six takes it; but doesn't puff it. She smiles wryly.

"I think you're going to learn a lot more about humans than you wished, Gaius."

2.

"…Well I'll be counting on that; won't I? Because if _anyone_ finds out about this, I could literally get my head chopped off!"

Number Six keeps a calm face. Barely. The sudden change in his attitude throws her off her groove, but she recovers.

She must recover. Her fate – the fate of all the Sixes – revolves around her actions here; now. The Ones claim it's for the fate of all Cylons, but she's heard rumors of a Boxing if this mission should fail. A Boxing of the Sixes.

He thinks she wants cheats for her company that conveniently only appeared in backlogs and databases six months ago. She can't let him find out her true purposes. Not when she's so close. Not because it would destroy everything the Cylons have been working towards… but because it would break Gaius Baltar's heart.

That's her true purpose. That's why she doesn't sway where she stands. That's why she smiles, and thanks him, and swears to keep it a secret. Her dirty secret.

No-one can know. No-one but her.

3.

D'anna knows.

She knows: The Six sent to Caprica in order to prepare for the incoming Cylon attack – Caprica-Six, the others are calling her now – Has retrieved entry into the Colonial Defense Mainframe. D'anna will handle it from here- once Six reaches the rendezvous point outside the Caprican Defense Building, D'anna will plug herself into the system and disable the necessary defense systems for the Attack.

But it isn't her true purpose here. A lowly Five could perform the same task. No; she has a much more important job: The Ones have sent her to keep an eye on Caprica-Six.

D'anna understands their lack of faith- the Sixes' flightiness is rivaled only by that of the Eights. A Three such as herself is the only model fit for such a task, and the Ones have sent her in secret to collaborate.

"D'anna Biers."

Six takes a seat on the bench next to Number Three.

"Shelly Godfrey."

Number Three trades a look with Number Six through sunglasses that belong (and used to belong) on a tourist from Picon.

"Shall we grab a bite, then?"

4.

"_And that__'__s when the Cylons attacked. They hit the shipyard with three; maybe four, nukes? Five ships __–__ two of them Battlestars __–__ they were destroyed right there.__"_

The Scorpion Shipyards are the first to fall. Of the four Battlestars docked, two Battlestars escape- Pegasus Jumps as soon as it is free of Dry-Dock. Commander Astra doesn't blame them. Battlestar Rycon has defective FTLs, and will not Jump without another week of maintenance. The only reason it has survived the torching of the shipyards is due to the newly repaired DRADIS screen.

And soon, Astra begins to wonder if that is defective too; when the crew shouts about a large warship approaching that does not boast Colonial Recognition Codes. Seconds later; her blood runs cold, as she realizes: There is only one thing it can be.

When the ship's firewall is put under attack, Commander Astra does the smart thing- she abandons ship. The crew evacuates to the Raptors- but when those are rendered obsolete by the Cylon Network, they board the outdated Alert Vipers instead. Many of them don't make it. Commander Astra stays behind in the bridge- before the Cylons finish breaking into the ship's system, she sets it on an irreversible crash-course with the Cylon Basestar. There are no invulnerable shuttles left off the Battlestar by the time she is finished.

Battlestar Rycon is the first true casualty of the Second Cylon War.

5.

"Holy frak!"

"Those are…"

"Bombs! Over Caprica City! We're gonna die!"

The crowds riot. Those with access to spacecraft are using it to flee as well as they can. The others are begging those lucky few for a ride off the planet.

D'anna walks through the crowd; not disturbed in the slightest. Behind her, the sound of another Cylon nuke hitting the city rumbles out in the distance. Caprica-Six is still there. She never left; if D'anna remembers correctly. How unfortunate for her. D'anna will likely see her aboard the Resurrection Ship.

But not this D'anna. This D'anna has a greater purpose still: Number One has gifted her with a new mission- to stay with the humans as they flee, and transfer their co-ordinates to the Cylon Basestars every so often. The other models would likely approve of this plan, but they cannot know. Not until it's safe.

"Excuse me." A man hastily making the final preparations for lift-off aboard his small-ish freighter turns at the sound of D'anna's crisp voice- D'anna breaks his neck without a second thought. She steps over his corpse, and boards the freighter.

Minutes later, the man's house is bombed- and so is the crowd nearby.

6.

"Attention all warships: There has been a Cylon attack against the Twelve Colonies. Requesting help- repeat: Requesting help. If anyone is out there, please… come save us."

Caprica's digital transmission facilities were destroyed in the nuclear attack. All that's left is a crummy portable radio transponder, and most Battlestars are too advanced to mainframe with such technology. Most of those Battlestars are gone.

The Radio Person- the last colonial officer standing in Caprica City after the bombing – send his message again anyway. He'll keep doing it until the battery runs out.

"He'll keep doing it until the battery runs out. Just you watch." Not-Baltar walks through the wreckage; his hands behind his back. He crouches and looks over the officer's shoulder, but the officer doesn't notice him. No-one does.

"That's because humans don't lose hope, Gaius. Not until the very last second." Not-Six crouches beside him, and together they watch the man desperately spool up the radio transponder, and try again.

The officer barely restrains himself from breaking out into laughter from pure joy, as the transponder beeps affirmingly: There's a signal.

Not-Six and Not-Baltar trade a look as the officer begins to hastily input his message again, then both stare at what has appeared on the transponder screen:

**-({**Signal Received**})-**

**-({**Receiving ship:Battlestar Galactica**})-**


End file.
